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Resource Library Added

September 16, 2009 by John Knight

You should see a new feature in the right column of The Works of God website: Resource Library.

We are just getting started putting content together in this ‘library’ but decided not to wait any longer to open it up.

There are many resources you can find on the internet regarding disability ministries, so these pages are limited to content created by pastors or members of Bethlehem Baptist Church.

  • Disability Radio is the audio we’ve collected thus far that Bethlehem members have presented on disability ministry or the bible and disability.
  • Sermons and Commentary right now is a small sampling of items that Pastor John has preached on or written that references disability.  We’ll be adding more to this page over time.
  • Other Resources is just that, other documents or statements about disability or the disability ministry at Bethlehem Baptist Church.  For example, the original document presented to and approved by the Elders that got the disability ministry formally started in 2004 is posted here.

I hope you find it useful.  Suggestions for additions to these pages are welcome!

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News: UK Mom Takes on Nuffield Council on Bioethics

September 15, 2009 by John Knight

There was a horrible story out of England last week about a mother who went into labor at 21 weeks and 5 days.  She delivered a very tiny living baby boy – and the doctors refused to provide him treatment because he had not made it to 22 weeks.  Adding to her grief, British standards say not to even provide a birth certificate for babies of less than 22 weeks development.

She is now challenging the standards created by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, standards which resulted in her son not receiving any treatment.  She is not the first to call their standards into question.

Al Mohler discussed the Nuffield Council in 2006, along with the terrible development that the Church of England was actually endorsing some of the Council’s standards for withholding care from disabled babies.  I hope this mom’s efforts attract both attention and change.

But in the several stories I read about this mom and her son, there was never any mention of the father.   Her five-year-old daughter is mentioned several times, and pictured at least once.  The father never appears.

That boy needed his dad.  Even with care he might have only lived a short time, or lived with significant disabilities.  The man who fathered him should have been there to be part of it.

And this might be the most shocking fact in the midst of this terrible situation – not one news account even seemed to notice dad was missing.

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Special Event for Fathers of Children with Disabilities

September 14, 2009 by John Knight

Every man touched by disability in his family who is near the Twin Cities should plan on attending this free event on October 17.

Pastor Kempton Turner, a father with a disabled child, will again be the keynote speaker at a special breakfast event for fathers at Grace Church in Eden Prairie.  It will be held on Saturday, October 17 at 9:00 a.m.

Kempton has a powerful personal testimony of God’s sovereign goodness in giving him his child with significant disabilities.  And it is good for men to get together to encourage and build each other up!  The breakfast is also first-rate.

To register for this free event, contact Chuck Peterson at 952-361-9789 or by e-mail at chukkarn@infinityathome.net. Deadline is October 8, 2009

If you are still not convinced, please consider listening to an earlier presentation he made to fathers that can be found here. After hearing him, you will want to attend!

I look forward to seeing you there!

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Welcome to The Works of God

September 13, 2009 by John Knight

For the past year several of us at Bethlehem Baptist Church have sought to express our joy in and dependency on a God who intentionally created some to live with disability.  That blog was hosted here.  You might find some interesting things there.

This past week we moved the blog here, to improve accessibility for you and also for the sake of those posting.  All are welcome to read and to comment.  Please do so!

We try to post almost daily, but I recommend using RSS or subscribing to have it sent to you via email (see button at right).  Abraham Piper provided a very helpful tutorial on RSS here.

We hope you find this site useful.  More importantly, we seek to bring glory to our sovereign, good, righteous, merciful God.

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Flash: Isaac, Jacob and Eli Had Eye Problems Because They Were Elderly!

September 12, 2009 by John Knight

Ok, the title is a little sarcastic, and I actually like the fact that an Israeli doctor took the time to consider what might have physically happened to those three men from the Old Testament.

I was looking up something else and I came across “What Diseases of the Eyes Affected Biblical Men?”  in the 2002 edition of the journal Gerontology. Unfortunately I can’t provide a link to that article.

Dr. Ben-Noun’s conclusion:

It is more likely that either mature cataract, or age-related macular degeneration, or asymptomatic open-angle glaucoma, or ischemic optic neuropathy or optic nerve atrophy were associated with visual loss. Corneal ulceration or scarring can also be considered. Hereditary causes of optic nerve atrophy and retinal degeneration can be excluded.

What Diseases of the Eyes Affected
Biblical Men?

In other words, they were getting older and their eyesight was failing.

As we get older, the opportunity for disability also increases, and increases substantially.  God knows that, and even in the lives of those men he used their failing sight to orchestrate very important things.   So it is good to hang onto his word:

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26

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When ‘Composite’ Means Deception

September 11, 2009 by John Knight

In “Arguing about Genetics and Disability,” Tom Shakespear asserts he is showing two sides of an argument, and that his own views are a “composite of both characters’ positions.”  He is either deceiving himself, or trying to deceive us, because there is no real argument presented. Continue Reading »

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Defining Moments: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

September 10, 2009 by John Knight

You already know how much I appreciate Caryn Turner’s blog, and she again has provided a personal, helpful reminder of who God is.  It is also in the spirit of yesterday’s blog about Fighter Verses on this site.

So, enjoy Caryn’s Fearfully and Wonderfully Made post for its God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-believing truths.  Our God really is that good.

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Fearfully and Wonderfully Disabled: Fighterverses.com

September 9, 2009 by John Knight

Isn’t that a great title!  I wish I had thought of it.

Tyler Kinney, a friend and colleague at Desiring God, writes and posts the weekly verse at FighterVerses.com.

As he was posting this week’s verses, Psalm 139:13-14, he remembered that I had made a connection between Psalm 139:13-14, Exodus 4:11 and John 9:2-3.  So, he brought it together under that great title above, Fearfully and Wonderfully Disabled.  And then he linked it all to my talk on disability and the Bible at the Children Desiring God conference earlier this year.

I’m going to use that title for something.  After I ask him, of course.

Posted in Scripture | Tagged | 2 Comments »

The Big Bus Comes Again This Morning

September 8, 2009 by John Knight

For all of us with school-aged children, the day after Labor Day is when it all begins again.  An army of people, all listed on my son’s IEP with their official titles and the number of minutes each week he will work with them, will attempt to help him develop skills as much as he is able.

But his favorite part of the day is the enormous bus that will pull up directly in front of the house to transport him to his school, and then back again.  He loves the bus.  So it’s pretty easy to get him going in the morning – a reminder that the bus is coming is usually enough to have him pop up from his bed.

He’s been getting on that bus since he was three years old.  And every year I worry about the bus driver and the bus aides.  I won’t let him on the bus with a sole adult, even with credentials and a clean track record – my son is just too vulnerable.

So, every year I am confronted with my responsibilities to him as his dad, and the command to not be anxious:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7

I must do both: carry out my fatherly responsibilities of protection; and not be anxious about anything. This is not a balancing act.

So, in a couple of hours, I’ll put him back on that bus.  And pray like crazy.

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God’s Good Reminders in Hardship

September 7, 2009 by John Knight

We had the privilege of caring for some precious children on Friday and Saturday while their parents took care of their baby brother, who ended up in the hospital.

I didn’t ask if their situation could be made public, so please just pray for one of God’s precious babies with a significant disability who is having a hard time.

And their hard time brought back a lot of memories, but also two highlighted significant benefits we have experienced:

  1. A reminder of how much God has carried us through, and how good he is.  He frequently did it through the kindness of other people.
  2. One mom was comforted to know another mom really did understand her situation.  Just like we were comforted.

In other words, we gave nothing that we had not already received in much greater measure.

We are grateful for these reminders, and also to see how our own children reacted in such helpful and positive ways to the younger children in our care for a few hours.  It was a great blessing, and an indicator of how much we have benefited from people who have lived up to Proverbs 17:17 for us:

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

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